The Gobblers Knob

CD’s I am Diggin’ Right Now is an occasionally occurring series where I casually highlight some discs (new and old) that I think you might like, without boring you with an overly-wordy, metaphor-filled “review” that I often like to bestow upon some other discs.

For my 300th post here on the ol’ Knob, I figured I would chat a bit about a couple of bands from Texas (while Brandon Jenkins started in Oklahoma, he lives in Texas these days, so he counts).  Babbling about bands from my home-state is fitting, since it was my trip to the very Tex-centric Larry Joe Taylor Music Fest near Stephenville, TX in 2007 that served as my inspiration for starting a blog, afterall.

Charlie Shafter Band - 17th & Chicago. After catching myself really digging two of the more rockin’ songs from this album that I’ve heard on the radio, I just had to grab it off of I-tunes.  “Big City Baby” and “Not My Girl” are not only equipped with catchy hooks in the chorus, but “Not My Girl” comes loaded with some really well placed claps.  Yep, claps.  Give it a listen and tell me that the claps don’t give the song a certain punch. That very same track boasts some deceivingly menacing lyrics also.  After divulging that he received a restraining order from this girl who isn’t quite his (in not so many words), Shafter sings that “I just bought a .45 and I’m as bored as I can be“…*sigh* love sure is sweet.  Mix in some tracks that showcase Shafter’s slower side and you really have a pretty solid, well-rounded Texas-Country record that rocks a good bit.  While it doesn’t charge as hard throughout the entire disc as John D. Hale’s or Bleu Edmondson’s latest albums do, I would still feel a.o.k. with putting this album into the “Country with Muscle” category.

Brandon Jenkins - Faster Than a Stone. This is another album where two songs make this entire record worthwhile for me. The title track and “Big Mama’s Kitchen” both ooze with the Roadhouse-Blues feel that helps set Jenkins apart in the Texas club scene.  Like many great artists, the songs on this disc couldn’t be effectively performed by any other singer. Jenkins’ robust, burly voice lend the songs an authority that just slams these specific tracks home.  I typically don’t care much for “food songs” (Robert Earl Keen and Guy Clark, I’m looking at you.), but the way that Jenkins’ describes the fare at Big Mama’s makes me scared to not only dislike the song, but scared to insult Big Mama by not ordering some of the “Black Joe Java” or “Peach Dumplin’ Cobbler“.  His husky vocal delivery is equally as convincing in “Faster Than a Stone”.  Again, when Jenkins’s sings, “I’m colder than the water straight from the fountain, faster than a stone, rollin’ down the mountain“, I cant help but believe him, because if I dont, he’ll kick my rear.